From Late Formative to Classic at Etlatongo in the Ñuu Savi Region: Changes and Continuities

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Moving the Needle: Expanding the Discourse on Modern Archaeology in Oaxaca Part II" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We explore the continuities and changes between Late Formative and Classic period Etlatongo, especially in terms of settlement patterns and ceramic traditions. Present models suggest that most of the Late/Terminal Formative political centers in the Mixteca Alta imploded within a few hundred years of their formation, and some areas, such as the Teposcolula Valley and the western arm of the Nochixtlán Valley, were depopulated. In contrast, excavations at Etlatongo demonstrate greater continuity, indicating that the community not only grew in size, but also continued to use ritually charged spaces well into the Classic period. The Etlatongo data afford a substantial overview of Las Flores phase (Classic period) pottery, and ceramic analysis of securely dated public and domestic contexts provides a more nuanced view of change over time, as different components within ceramic traditions changed at different rates. Here, we briefly compare the data from Etlatongo to the available information from other sites to argue that Etlatongo provides an ideal case to evaluate assumed hypotheses and ideas about the social transformations that took place during the Late/Terminal Formative to Classic transition in the Oaxaca region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Moving the Needle: Expanding the Discourse on Modern Archaeology in Oaxaca Part II

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51823